Arsenal look set to win the race to sign Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain after pledging to complete the required €30m (£25.5m).

The Emirates Stadium side’s main competitors in the race for the 25 year old Argentine international comes in the form of Serie A title holders Juventus, who are only willing to offer £18m and wish to do so in five separate payments. Both conditions which Real Madrid deem unacceptable, all but ruling the Turin side out of the race to sign the exit bound Bernabeu forward.

Arsene Wenger is desperate to bring in a prolific marksman, feeling that as well as Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud have fared in their first seasons in the Premier League, neither have come close to replicating the goal tally the Gunners could rely Robin Van Persie to provide.

Higuain may well have only been a bit part player during Jose Mourinho’s time in charge of the Spanish giants but the former River Plate marksman still scored regularly, netting 16 La Liga goals in 2012/13, despite being handed just 19 starts.

Arsenal will make room for Higuain by offloading a quartet of under-performing striking talents with Nicklas Bendtner, Marouane Chamakh, Park Chu-Young and Gervinho all set to leave the club this summer.

It’s likely that whilst a deal could be struck with Real Madrid in a matter of days re-elected president Florentino Perez will wait until a successor to Jose Mourinho is in place, more than likely to be Carlo Ancelotti, before making such an announcement publicly.